It'll Be Just Like Beggar's Canyon Back Home! - 01/01/2015

Today was the day when Gill.I.am was finally doing the deep dives of her PADI Deep Speciality with Aqaba's Anchor in Jordan. We were going to be doing two dives to 40m today. The first at the Power Station and the second down a deep canyon near the wreck of the Cedar Pride. 

As the Power Station was to be Gill's first dive down to 40m I never took the camera even though this would be our best chance of seeing a shark. The site reminded me a lot of Dogfish Reef / Furnace Quarry back home for a number of reasons including:

• Steep slope straight down
• Popular with fishermen
• Lots of discarded fishing line and litter on the reef

It was comforting to know that we all face the same problems.

The dive went well without being too eventful. We saw stonefish, mantis shrimp and morays but no sharks or turtles.

We went to the second site where they were also running a rescue course. I got to be the panicked diver and got to shout for help theatrically in both English & Arabic. I was told my performance was excellent. The guy passed.

Our second dive took us down a deep canyon and as we hit 40m we finally struck gold for the day. A whopping 1.4m green turtle. I got excited, started taking pictures and gunned through my air at depth.  Fortunately, Abood the DM was carrying a spare cylinder so I borrowed that for 50 bar and a few minutes of deco. :)

Abood enjoys a fresh beverage

Turtle

Turtle

Cedar Pride

Starry Puffer

Gill and Diver

Cedar Pride Comes Before It All - 14/07/2014

When I first started diving my local dive shop, Aquatron, had a picture on the wall of a wreck. At the time I had no idea what the wreck was called, I just knew that I was breaking out of my comfort zone because I wanted to see cool stuff like that underwater. Today, together with legendary Glasgow Roller Derby skater Gill.I.Am, I dived the Cedar Pride from the shore here at Aqaba with Aqaba's Anchor.

The wreck, in a sense, is artificial in that it was sunk on purpose at the behestof the then Prince of Jordan, King Abdullah II for the purposes of dive tourism. Well it worked, because I'm here.

We dived from the shore as it is a well documentedfact that Gill doesn't like boats and I don't like stress. We were accompanied by the surprisingly international Isaac who is Jordano-Turk-Norweg-ish. :) Top bloke and ex-commercial diver who is trying to establish Aqaba's Anchor as the premier Aqaba based dive troop. We also had his intern (don't they always have an intern). I'll somewhat ignorantly call him Al, as I have no idea how to spell his actual name, though it began with Al.

Entering the water, we headed down over a sandy bottom, passing a pretty stunning Table Coral en route to the wreck. Being 80m long it slowly emerged into sight. Strangely, it was smaller than I expected and with slightly less life, although the corals in particular are really starting to make it their home.

Passing round the bow, the deck became visible with the large cargo holds open, but empty. We entered and headed up to the air pocket. I kept my reg in. As fun as air pockets are the air, while breathable, probably isn't the best.

Coming back round the stern we hit the edges of the coral reef that was to form the basis of our next dive. The coral formations were brilliant and more colourful than I remember in Egypt last year. Although, in Egypt's defence they had more, larger fish. I can't help but think I'm becoming a dive nerd when I was more interested in the feather stars and black sea urchins on the reef than the wreck itself. Though Gill particularly liked the wreck.

It's a nice wreck, I've dived better, but given its importance during my early diving days it's safe to say the Cedar Pride came before it all.

Table Coral

Under the Table Coral

Passing the bow

Swimming round the stern

Salad coral

Coral and fish

Concerning Jordan - 13/07/2014

While lazing by a pool in Egypt last Christmas, Gill-I-Am and I got chatting to a a guy from Essex who had spent almost every holiday for the last 20 years in either Egypt or the Middle East. He wasn't the most interesting person I met on that trip, nor did I agree with many of his views. However, I couldn't deny his knowledge of the region, and when he advised me not to go on a "day trip" to Petra, but instead spend a little time touring Jordan I took heed.

Fast forward half a year and a fair amount of research and here I am in Jordan, with Gill-I-Am.

"Hey, stop being smug!" "What's this got to do with diving?" I hear you say. Well tomorrow, and over the next few days I'm going to be shore diving off the coast of Aqaba (right at the top of the Gulf Aqaba in the Red Sea).

Diving acquaintances recommended two companies. In all honesty, I plumped for the fluffier of the two - Aqaba's Anchor. The other company (Extra Divers) seemed at bit more techy, but a little reluctant to run a shore diving itinerary - Gill-I-Am doesn't like boats.

The only site I know for sure I will be diving is the wreck of the Cedar Pride. The rest is entirely up to Aqaba's Anchor. They asked me what I wanted to see. After an entirely unrealistic light-hearted list of suggestions I settled on seahorses and turtles.